Annual Business Meeting

" Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God, the LORD is One. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your strength. These words I am commanding you today are to be upon your hearts. And you shall teach them diligently to your children

I love this passage in Deuteronomy. It’s a passage ultimately about celebration. The people of God are seeing the promises of God fulfilled before their very eyes. They are crossing into the promised land. While this passage marks a historical event, I trust the wider narrative is not lost on us here at Grace Community. We have a lot to celebrate! God has brought about a great victory this past year, we have seen His promises to be wholly true. There is much to rejoice over as we continue to gain momentum as a congregation!

As His people progress the Lord impresses on them the absolute necessity to keep the main thing central. As the hard work in claiming the promised land commences His people need to stay true to the ultimate purpose of knowing Him. This was true for Israel, and it is true for us. As we celebrate this annual report helps us to firstly remember what, or more succinctly Who is at the center of all that matters in life and needs to matter in ours.

Secondly, it is our attempt to bring attention to the genuinely good stuff we have that has been afforded in Christ Jesus. In doing so it should serve as the catalyst as to what keeps us accountable to one another and the mission entrusted to us by The Lord. Our hope is that all our members see their critical role ultimately as “members of Christ’s Body” with something to share.

Finally, it is about God’s faithfulness. What is the best indication of God’s future faithfulness to us? It’s the clear promise of His Word and His past faithfulness which does not change.

All of these should serve as a challenge for us to remain faithful. One of my prayers for Grace Community has been that as God makes us bigger, we would never lose the spirit and focus we had at our beginning—that our primary mission is bringing other people to Jesus. We may meet in 5 locations all across the Corridor, but we are still united by one mission: to bring in, build up and branch out for the glory of God. What will God do now if we keep making ourselves available to Him? Our God is not just a God of the past. He’s a God of the present and of the future. I firmly believe that the best is yet to come.

Pastor Paul

1,427

Average Total Weekend Attendance (both campuses)

612

Average Total Weekend Children's Ministry Attendance (both campuses)

13%

Total of Weekend Attendance Comprised of Thrive Classes

Counseling Ministry

Counseling at Grace

130 people (60 singles and 35 couples) were counseled at Grace in 2018.

22 couples went through our Premarital Class in 2018.

Counseling in Haiti

12 Haitian pastors meet with two Grace Pastors every month to be coached and built up as men.

14 couples went through our Premarital Class in 2018.

539

People Currently Involved in a Community Group

53

Current Number of Active Community Groups

61

High School Students Involved in Life Groups

352

2018 Fall Kick Off Attendance [ground zero for Momentum]

The change for us was when we started to get counseling. Where we started to realize that we were living our lives for ourselves, even though we were in a relationship. We said we cared and we loved each other, but we were living our lives for ourselves, we were living our lives for kids, but we weren't living our lives for God, or each other.

We just made a decision to trust God first and foremost for everything and once I was able to start doing that it just changed everything.

Start-up Total Attendance

82

Attendance as of February 2019

141%

Increase in Attendance in 2018

The River City Church first met on May 13, 2018. Nine months later they had their first official public service on January 13, 2019.

Before I came to Grace I didn’t really ever go to church I wasn’t raising my kids in a Christian home. My wife and I started having marital issues because I guess I just got tired of living the way I was living. I didn’t enjoy my life and I decided I wanted to move on. My pride was just exploding everywhere.

I came into Grace one weekend and they were preaching on the 7 Deadly Sins and it was conviction every weekend, every week. I’d walk in here and I just felt cut to the heart. It was amazing. There was a point where God softened my heart and prepared me for it and I walked in and heard the gospel, and that’s where my life changed.

People On Missions Trips

Long-term Workers on the Mission Field

Local Outreach Partner Organizations

Grace Members Sent with the River City Church Plant

12

Total Baptisms as of Dec. 2018

4

Number of New Members as of Dec. 2018

354

Combined Average Attendance at Grace Network Churches

5

New Staff and Field Staff

I think being involved in missions has affected our family in a lot of ways. A specific example was in this past summer when our boys went on their first trip. They were excited to go, they’ve wanted to go for a while, but to actually have them see what it looks like in another country, obviously was very eye-opening for them.

New Users of the Grace App in 2018

Current Number of the Grace Facebook Group Members

Sermon Downloads From the Website, App, Podcasts and YouTube

Reads online of the Grace Insider (this doesn't include numbers in print)

107

New Givers Committed on Commitment Cards

6,280,000

Progress Towards Monetary Goal for Momentum

546

Total Households that Committed on Commitment Cards in North Liberty

54

Total Households that Committed on Commitment Cards in Downtown

Primary Goal

Momentum is first and foremost a discipleship initiative. We'll focus on an often neglected aspect of discipleship during Momentum, namely stewardship. However, long after the Momentum series ends we'll still be driving at making whole disciples who properly divide the Word of God, pray fervently, serve wholeheartedly and steward wisely. The primary goal of Momentum is to have every person take their next step as disciples of the one true king.

Secondary Goal

Our secondary goal is monetary. This is not magic. Websites don't build themselves, counseling ministries aren't automated etc. This one fund initiative includes our total ministry fund for the next two years, our expansion for our continued vision to reach out to more people and our desire to create global partnerships on every continent. That goal over the next two years is 6.8 million dollars.

3,500,000

Our Community - our operating budget for the next two years

2,650,000

Our Corridor - our future plan for the North Liberty Campus

650,000

Our World - our outreach plan for missional living locally and globally